This invention relates to an improvement of a tag pin assembly, and more particularly, to a flexible pin assembly for hooking merchandise price tags, quality tags, etc.
A conventional pin assembly comprises a plurality of flexible pins for hooking various merchandise tags. In general, the conventional flexible pin for hooking a tag includes an intermediate portion made of a plastic fiber and which is drawn, an earlobe portion formed on one end thereof, and a head portion formed on the other end thereof. The earlobe portion has a through-hole formed therein and an engagement means formed on the inner surface of the through-hole. The head portion has a stepped portion formed on its base end portion. The stepped portion is, in use, brought into engagement with the engagement means of the earlobe portion when the head portion is pierced into the through-hole of the earlobe portion, so that the head portion will not escape.
In the past, the above-described prior art pins were manufactured in a separated condition. In other words, the pins were individually manufactured, and were not manufactured as a unit or assembly of pins. In use, the pins were manually pierced, one by one, into holes of given merchandise tags, and then the head portions were manually fixedly fitted into the earlobe portions, respectively, by the user. This manual work is not efficient. In addition, use thereof often caused the user to suffer from tendovaginitis, etc.
In view of the above, many attempts have recently been made to manufacture the tag pins as a unit or assembly in which a plurality of pins are arranged in parallel relation and are connected together by a connecting member. Such unit tag pins have been mounted on a mounting device and separated by a cutter provided on the mounting device, so that the pins could be individually attached to given merchandise tags.
However, the above conventional devices still had the following shortcomings. Since the unit pins are usually connected together at one end (either the head side or the earlobe side) by the connecting member, positioning and aligning the head portions with respect to the corresponding earlobe portions is difficult. Also, it sometimes happens that the unit pins are separated before attachment to merchandise tags. Moreover, the head portions and the earlobe portions, which are mounted on a mounting device tend to spread apart from each other due to stiffness of the intermediate portion. In addition, the head portion readily escapes from the earlobe portion merely by pulling, if the length dimension of the head portion is not large enough.
The present invention has been accomplished to overcome the above-described disadvantages of the prior art.